From under-the-radar to unstoppable, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila’s second season with the Packers rewrote expectations in real time.QQ

Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila

Inducted: 2013

Defensive End: 2000-08

Height: 6-4; Weight: 250

College: San Diego State, 1996-99

Honors:

Pro Bowl Selection (played from 1950-2022): 2003

Generally, NFL teams don’t panic when a draft pick doesn’t make much of an impact as a rookie. But in those cases, they usually view the player’s second year as a litmus test for whether he’s likely to pan out or not.

Even then, most players don’t make as dramatic a jump as Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila did from Year 1 to Year 2.

Drafted in the fifth round in 2000 on the recommendation of West Coast scout Sam Seale, Gbaja-Biamila – nicknamed KGB – was waived on the final cutdown of training camp. Too raw and too slight at that point for other teams to put in a waiver claim and carry him on their 53-man rosters, KGB signed on with the Packers’ practice squad and filled the role of spectator for the first six games.

Finally added to their active roster on Oct. 10, he notched a half-sack and two quarterback hits in his first game five days later. But after playing a limited number of snaps the next week, KGB was inactive for the next three games and played only briefly in a fourth during that November stretch. It wasn’t until the 13th game of the season that he received significant playing time, and it wasn’t until the finale when he registered his first solo sack for a season total of 1½.

At that point, coach Mike Sherman sensed that KGB might have a chance to excel as a pass-rush specialist but still considered him an undersized project at 248 pounds. “(He) has maybe potentially that type of ability,” said Sherman before KGB’s second season.

Still, KGB’s development occurred so suddenly and was so striking, it caught most everyone off guard.

In the season opener against Detroit, he sacked quarterback Charlie Batch three times. After three games, KGB had a league-high six sacks plus a forced fumble and was named the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Month for September.

At season’s end, he had played in all 16 games but on only 36 percent of the snaps and without making a single start. Nevertheless, he finished with 13½ sacks, third most in the NFC and the most by a Packer since Reggie White had 16 in 1998. KGB also had 28 quarterback hits and 15 pressures.

“We always liked his speed and knew he had pass-rush ability, but no one knew he’d burst onto the scene like that,” said Reggie McKenzie, the Packers’ director of pro personnel. “His initial quickness off the line is inconsistent, but he has a good first step and what he can really do is close.”

That was the first of four straight seasons where KGB finished with double-digit sacks. He had 12 in 2002, 10 in 2003 and 13½ again in 2004. He also intercepted a pass against Chicago in 2002 and returned it 72 yards for a touchdown, a rare feat for a defensive lineman.

KGB’s virtues included his conditioning, long arms, deceptive strength and more often than not a quick jump off the ball. Perhaps most important of all, he was blessed with more straight-line speed than most speed rushers.

“He gains more ground with his first step than anybody I’ve seen,” Jethro Franklin, the Packers’ defensive line coach from 2000-04, said at the time.

In 2002, KGB became a starter for the first time, taking over for the final 11 games plus a playoff after veteran free agent Joe Johnson suffered a season-ending triceps injury. By 2004, KGB had bulked up to roughly 255 pounds, and he kept his hold on a starting job through the first 13 games of 2006, when Cullen Jenkins replaced him.

Over that period, KGB also had improved his play against the run. “He has been steady in the run game,” Jim Bates said in 2005, his only season as defensive coordinator of the Packers. “He’s been disciplined.” Bates attributed that to KGB playing with better leverage and making better use of his hands to get off blocks.

After playing roughly 80 percent of the defensive snaps from 2003-05 and close to that for most of 2006, KGB’s playing time fell sharply once Jenkins took his place.

Oddly, as it turned out, the more KGB played in his later years, the more his sack totals suffered. In 2005, they fell from 13½ to 8 and then to six in 2006.

Part of it was that the more success he had the more double teams he faced. At the same time, he was a classic speed rusher who never truly mastered an inside counter move and could be ridden past the quarterback by opposing tackles. Opponents also could still exploit him at times in the running game.

Back to being a pass-rush specialist in 2007, KGB’s sacks increased to 9½, playing a little more than 40 percent of downs.

After undergoing knee surgery for torn cartilage in May 2008, he was able to play in the first seven games but registered only one-half sack. He was waived at that point so the Packers could activate defensive tackle Justin Harrell, their 2007 first-round draft pick, off the physically unable to perform list.

In his nine seasons with the Packers, KGB played in 124 games and started 74. He also played in eight postseason games and started four. At the time, he held the Packers’ record for career sacks with 74½, although it was a statistic that the NFL didn’t officially recognize until 1982.

Born Sept. 24, 1977, in Los Angeles, Calif. Given name Muhammed-Kabeer Olarewaju Gbaja-Biamila.